"Just follow me, Angelina," the woman in scrubs said. "My name is Tina, and I'll be administering your transition today. I understand this is your first time?"
"Yes," Angelina said, a little nervous as she followed the woman back into the complex. She hadn't known what to expect, but once she got over the jitters, she couldn't help but feel that it was a little disappointing. The hallways felt more like the back area of a clinic than a strange or mystic realm that would transform her life. "The brochure said that the process was painless, but that it could be disorienting...."
"Both are absolutely true," Tina said, stopping at a door. "It's really difficult to explain until you've gone through it once, but I have done it myself and I assure you it's really quite painless. I'm going to let you into the room here, and once you get in, if you would change out of your clothes and into the gown provided, we'll get things under way. Just take a seat on the stool, we'll worry about the fancy chair once you've changed. I'll be taking your clothes and your purse once you're out of them, and handing those to the person who's taking your life. Once we're finished, I'll bring their items to you so that you can get dressed. After that, we'll go over the specifics of the person who's life you'll be living while they rent yours, and give you a little time to settle into it before you leave. Any questions?"
"Oh, so I don't get to find out about the person who's renting my life until after it's done?" Angelina asked.
"No, I'll be perfectly honest, we've found that it creates problems. We had too many people back out when they found that the life they would be living wasn't appealing to them. In general, our clients lead nice lives, and can afford our services, but they all have reasons to want to be someone else for a little while. We've found that by setting your requirements for rental rate, and availability, in advance, we're able to find a client who can meet those requirements and execute the agreement. After all, they are the client, if you wanted to vacation in someone else's life of your choosing, then you would be the client."
"I guess that makes sense," Angelina said, stepping into the room. Despite what Tina had said, she found it hard to not look at the futuristic couch in the center of the room, or at the circle of strange and arcane symbols that were carved into the tile floor around the chair.
Minutes after getting dressed in the simple white hospital gown, Tina took her clothing away and helped her into the softly padded couch. A clear shield was lowered in place over her eyes and lights began to dance across her face as Tina began to work her magic. A strange pulling sensation enveloped Lisa from the bottom of her toes to the top of her head, and the flashing lights before her eyes began to blur together as magic pulled her identity from her. Moments later, she drifted into a deep sleep while a new identity was laid over her body, and skills were downloaded from the client and mapped into her own brain.
When Angelina woke, it was with a different identity, but who's?